Whenever i come across a SriLankan friend, the very first thing they ask is "have you been to Nuwaraeliya?” and thats why, ever since i came to Sri Lanka, i 've wanted to go on a journey to Srilanka’s “Up Country”. They always speaks of the cold weather of Nuwaraeliya, but for me, i thought “hey how can that place be so called when its burning here (in Colombo)”. Also one of my Maldivian colleague told me that the clouds touchs the earth and described how close they were to the clounds. Hmm... this again I refused to believe.

Anyways here is my story. Our trip came up unexpectedly. It wasn’t well planned. The thing is some of my friends still haven’t got there semister break and we had approximately 48 hours to do what ever we want. We (me, my gf and some of her friends and one of my Srilankan buddy Buhdhikka) started our descovery journey to the “up country” about 4:30am. After about one hour of uninspiring view of heavy traffic, a picturesque view, with beautiful trees, magical landscape, and most importantly the tea plantations that surround the only high way to Nuwaraeliya. As we drove upto the mountains my heart flutters , and was giddy with excitement.

After countless days of patience (literally :D), we finally reach our destination. After we went to our Beach Bangalore, we again rushed to see the Horton Plains: i can say that this is best part of my trip. We went to see the Worlds End, after that we climed some mountains to reach the Bakers Fall. After afew hours of exploring the beauty of this tropical area, we head back to our beach Bangalore to rest for the night.

That night it was so cold that i couln’t even sleep proparly. I walked up early morning around 5:30am and yes it was freezing out there. I came across a phenomenon i had never seen before. I saw the clouds rolling in, the light inside the sanctuary was fading fast, It seemed that time has stopped. After afew minutes the whole area was full of mist. The scene was Sureal. Here it seems that every ray of light reflects off a rain drop. Yet the drops of rain are so fine, so small they do not fall but form a cloud. A cloud that is not in the sky but one the surface of the land.

Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time so we had to pass the most beautiful garden in Srilanka, Hakgala Garden. Hopefully we will go to Hakgala Garden on our next visit to Nuwareliya. Photo's of my trip is available in my flickr Gallery.